shout out to ilam and ashu for being amazing, delightful people :)
wednesday: woke up, got ready, caught a train for montpellier. everything went oh so smoothly. i didn't have to wait long for anything, it was as if the world was on my time. met up with jules and headed straight for diagonal, the theater that plays all its films in vo (version originale) which means that harry potter was playing in english!!!! i had missed the 4:15 showing so i bought a ticket for the 9pm one. and i had all day to get very excited about it. jules is not a harry potter fan. to each his own but i am still incredulous whenever i meet a non-fan.
headed back to jules' place and talked and chilled (literally, the weather was ridiculously cold). i texted the few acquaintances i knew in the city to see if anyone happened to be free to watch the movie with me. antoine, a juggling aficionado we met in the park a week ago, agreed to keep me company. there was actually a line outside the theater when we got there! and i hear a lot of people speaking english in various accents but i was too excited to pay attention.
the movie was SO good. and i am so glad they stuck to the book so well. overall it was a very satisfactory viewing experience. i can not wait for the next one to come out. and i already want to watch this one again.
thursday: the next morning, i made sure to make it to my meeting at the ofii early. i waited forever anyway. it was for a medical exam, but i didn't know what that entailed. all it was, was a lung x-ray. the nurse who directed me through the whole thing was nice but in a great hurry. the little booth thing was freezing. and it was a considerably awkward position they wanted me in to snap the photo. it was over quick but that was followed by over an hour of more waiting. all to be called into another room to be told that they forgot to print my card. the lady (who's last name was lion, irrelevant) told me that it could take anywhere from up to 3 days to a week for them to get it processed. and so i had come all the way, paying a total of 17 euro for my return train fare, for essentially nothing other than to push my boobs up to a freezing plate in a tiny booth and carry around proof of my impeccable lungs. i wasn't that upset actually. it was an excuse to watch harry potter!
so i caught a train back and when i was almost at beziers, i got a phone call telling me that my card was ready! great. so i told the lady that i'd be back next week to collect it. but seriously, why?
friday: i woke up and went to the market to buy veggies for the weekend. i came home and made guacamole and garlic butter with parsley to take to a thanksgiving dinner party hosted by elaine in beziers. i caught a bus a little hectically, forgetting my toothbrush, but i made good time. the weather was below 2 degrees outside! i picked up tortilla chips and a loaf of bread for the guac and garlic bread and walked to elaine's to help prep.
she had a turkey going and there was cranberry sauce (oceanside, her mom had sent it to her!) and sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and green bean casserole and for dessert... pumpkin pie! people had brought over a lot of food and we were a huge group. all the people from the mexican dinner plus 3 more americans- 2 assistants and a professional volleyball player from san jose. it really is a small world.
dinner took 4 hours to eat and it was so so delicious. elaine and diane had made the pumpkin pie from scratch and it turned out perfect. it has motivated me to try it myself. but the pumpkin in my fridge is for tomorrow's green curry.
it was great talking to all the other assistants and sharing horror stories. i really had a lot to be grateful for, my experience here has been a delight compared to others'. as the night ended, and people trickled out carrying their sleeping or crying children, i felt overwhelmingly content. i really like being in a full, noisy place sometimes. and nothing beats good food and excellent company.
saturday: i spent the night and caught the noon bus back to serignan. i wanted to do a load of laundry but i couldn't get the garage door open. which sucks since gladys and jean pierre have gone to visit grand kids for the weekend and i still have other clothes drying in there.
all i've eaten today is leftovers from last night's dinner. and lots of clementines. i do not have any vitamin c with me, just multi-vitamins. so throwing off this sore throat will have to be done organically haha.
and now i must go wash my hair.
craving: some more of last night's sweet potatoes
currently listening to: paris nights / new york mornings- corinne bailey rae
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
i failed to mention this in the last post: thank you so much to everyone who commented! it really made my week :)
tuesdays are good days to blog because so much happens in school. today was no exception. i only had one hour in the morning; a group of eleven 11 year olds and they were working on family. they were energetic and surprised when they answered me correctly, which was adorable. they would also look at me like i was a mad woman when i asked them to try and answer in english. it was so simple too: describe your family. and the vocab was all on the board. i started off by drawing the simpsons family tree on the board and labeled each person what they were. ie. bart= son and brother. i think i speak too quickly even though i think it's quite slow enough, because half way through the class, a boy asked me if 'father' was what homer was called in english. i think i enjoy teaching the younger students more here, they behave so much better.
i got to head home after that class for a long nap and lunch before my 3 afternoon classes. the first group was the other half of a horror group from last week. i think their teacher must have considerably chastised them all because this group was eerily silent. they loosened up midway and participated and were very well-behaved.
i had prepared youtube videos for all my afternoon classes but when i hit full screen, i got an 'unexpected error' and so i talked them through a restaurant situation (for what felt like the 40th time for me), since they hadn't done it before. and when they class was over i power walked home to re-stream the videos and legged it back to school within the hour. i'm sure the ladies at the front office thought i was insane, coming and going like i was. the total times i walked to and from school today is: 3.
my afternoon classes were trying to say the least. i would have preferred to have had one of them yell in my face all hour instead of having to deal with them all. the last group especially. they would not stay quiet even 2 minutes to watch the video. i waited and they would hush but there was never silence, and the little quiet there was never lasted longer than ten seconds at a time. i didn't yell. i picked up the list of their names and just kept reading names off and telling each person in turn to be quiet. it was all i could do i thought because they each seemed to only take notice when i said their names. i also wrote stuff by their names in hopes that they would be threatened enough to shut up. to no avail. they became even louder, demanding to know what i was writing and giving me fake names.
the odd thing was that even the chattiest person was able to answer my questions about the video. i had to ask them a thousand times and repeat myself countlessly (not a word, but don't you think it should be one?) over the voices of those who refused to stop talking. but they had all somehow managed to pay attention in between fighting each other over rubber bracelets, tipping chairs over, pulling pants down, changing seats, and pinching, flicking and smacking each other on the head, all while whining at me to get the others to stop. not everyone, but most. this time there were only 3 students who stayed quiet throughout. it's odd because i think they all learned something. i just wonder why they didn't bother to stay quiet to learn more. were we like that in middle school? i remember wanting to learn french...
monday: i made an amazing mushroom sabzi with pav bhaji masala, courtesy el madre. it was sooooo good. it was today's lunch and will be dinner.
friday and this weekend was spent trying to get rid of a frightening sore throat. google told me to gargle some very odd things but i stuck to salt and warm water. i also made 13 delicious chocolate chip cookies. only one now remains in the jar, and it is staring at me as i type.
i have noticed that so far, serignan and toronto have roughly the same outside temperatures when it is not raining. and it barely rains here. this is not fair. i picked the south of france to escape the freezing cold. it seems, as whoopi told me, that i "inspire bad weather."
today i received my appointment date for the immigration stuff. it's thursday. so i will be heading to montpellier tomorrow and back thursday or friday. i was so angry that they gave me barely any time to plan this (and throw off my sore throat) when i realized that the 7th harry potter movie releases in france tomorrow. and montpellier is possibly the only place close to me that might actually play it in english. coincidence? or does the universe love me? i'll keep you posted. (oh cross your fingers, toes and eyes and send me positive health vibes and just hope for me that there is a theater that will play it in english with the real actors' voices! please oh please!)
craving: ripe mangoes
currently listening to: crystalized- the xx
tuesdays are good days to blog because so much happens in school. today was no exception. i only had one hour in the morning; a group of eleven 11 year olds and they were working on family. they were energetic and surprised when they answered me correctly, which was adorable. they would also look at me like i was a mad woman when i asked them to try and answer in english. it was so simple too: describe your family. and the vocab was all on the board. i started off by drawing the simpsons family tree on the board and labeled each person what they were. ie. bart= son and brother. i think i speak too quickly even though i think it's quite slow enough, because half way through the class, a boy asked me if 'father' was what homer was called in english. i think i enjoy teaching the younger students more here, they behave so much better.
i got to head home after that class for a long nap and lunch before my 3 afternoon classes. the first group was the other half of a horror group from last week. i think their teacher must have considerably chastised them all because this group was eerily silent. they loosened up midway and participated and were very well-behaved.
i had prepared youtube videos for all my afternoon classes but when i hit full screen, i got an 'unexpected error' and so i talked them through a restaurant situation (for what felt like the 40th time for me), since they hadn't done it before. and when they class was over i power walked home to re-stream the videos and legged it back to school within the hour. i'm sure the ladies at the front office thought i was insane, coming and going like i was. the total times i walked to and from school today is: 3.
my afternoon classes were trying to say the least. i would have preferred to have had one of them yell in my face all hour instead of having to deal with them all. the last group especially. they would not stay quiet even 2 minutes to watch the video. i waited and they would hush but there was never silence, and the little quiet there was never lasted longer than ten seconds at a time. i didn't yell. i picked up the list of their names and just kept reading names off and telling each person in turn to be quiet. it was all i could do i thought because they each seemed to only take notice when i said their names. i also wrote stuff by their names in hopes that they would be threatened enough to shut up. to no avail. they became even louder, demanding to know what i was writing and giving me fake names.
the odd thing was that even the chattiest person was able to answer my questions about the video. i had to ask them a thousand times and repeat myself countlessly (not a word, but don't you think it should be one?) over the voices of those who refused to stop talking. but they had all somehow managed to pay attention in between fighting each other over rubber bracelets, tipping chairs over, pulling pants down, changing seats, and pinching, flicking and smacking each other on the head, all while whining at me to get the others to stop. not everyone, but most. this time there were only 3 students who stayed quiet throughout. it's odd because i think they all learned something. i just wonder why they didn't bother to stay quiet to learn more. were we like that in middle school? i remember wanting to learn french...
monday: i made an amazing mushroom sabzi with pav bhaji masala, courtesy el madre. it was sooooo good. it was today's lunch and will be dinner.
friday and this weekend was spent trying to get rid of a frightening sore throat. google told me to gargle some very odd things but i stuck to salt and warm water. i also made 13 delicious chocolate chip cookies. only one now remains in the jar, and it is staring at me as i type.
i have noticed that so far, serignan and toronto have roughly the same outside temperatures when it is not raining. and it barely rains here. this is not fair. i picked the south of france to escape the freezing cold. it seems, as whoopi told me, that i "inspire bad weather."
today i received my appointment date for the immigration stuff. it's thursday. so i will be heading to montpellier tomorrow and back thursday or friday. i was so angry that they gave me barely any time to plan this (and throw off my sore throat) when i realized that the 7th harry potter movie releases in france tomorrow. and montpellier is possibly the only place close to me that might actually play it in english. coincidence? or does the universe love me? i'll keep you posted. (oh cross your fingers, toes and eyes and send me positive health vibes and just hope for me that there is a theater that will play it in english with the real actors' voices! please oh please!)
craving: ripe mangoes
currently listening to: crystalized- the xx
Friday, November 19, 2010
Quiet nights of quiet stars, quiet chords from my guitar, floating on the silence that surrounds us
10 days since my last post and the reasons for this are twofold: i went to montpellier for a long weekend and avoided the internet when i was there and when i returned, i fell sick and didn't want to do anything much less blog about it.
this flu thing i have took me completely by surprise. i can usually tell if i'm going to fall sick and also how bad it will be. this french strain destroyed all that. on monday night i had a glass of wine and snacks with my landlady for around 30 minutes. i came back home and ate, went online and went to bed with a slight sore throat. i woke up in full fledged agony but i was in denial about it. so i went to school and had a miserable day.
tuesday: the kids were loud and plain crazy. they didn't want to learn or listen to me. in one of my classes a girl had the audacity to have headphones in her ears and music playing! i confiscated the phone after much difficulty; she pretended not to understand me even when i spoke in french and then tried to hand me only her headphones without her phone! as if i didn't know that the two went together! the class was so loud and hyper and i had a sore throat and my body ached all over. it was torture.
at the end of the hour, the aforementioned girl walked right up to my desk and picked up her phone and almost made it out of the room before i caught her arm and talked to her. i was really surprised because when i took her phone, i told her i would be handing it over to her teacher and that she would deal with the issue, not me. now if this were me, i would have been embarrassed and scared for the rest of the hour, wondering about my phone and the trouble i was in. not this young lady. she spent the whole hour loudly talking to the boys beside her and not paying even the slightest attention to what i was saying. i was shocked. because of all the kids in the class, she had the most reason to try and suck up to me and she didn't even bother.
so when the class was over, she stood in front of me and begged me to give her a second chance. i returned her phone and headphones not because she was bright red and on the verge of fake tears, but because i absolutely hate it when teachers (at stella) tried to take our phones or belongings and not give them back at the end of the day. it used to infuriate me that the teachers and nuns at stella would confiscate phones and not return them for months! i'm sure it isn't legal. and now in that class, it all came back and i let her have her phone back saying that i would be informing her teacher of what happened.
and i did. i was embarrassed to, and sandrine (the teacher) was even more embarrassed that i had to deal with something like that. things like this really makes me wonder what makes a teacher someone worthy of students' attention and respect. clearly i fall short in some way. i'm not exactly sure what to do about it either. i don't yell in class, i hate yelling. i simply stop talking altogether and observe their various conversations with (what i hope is) a stern look on my face, until of of them realizes and yells for the others to shut up.
yet another observation is how i do not know if they understand or not. the expressions on their faces when they are disinterested are the same as when they do not understand. only when they are engaged and when they understand, do i ever see interest on their faces. and this is rare in some classes.
wednesday: i woke up with a beautiful fever and could barely move. i texted my teacher and apologized about not being able to come in. and went back to sleep. i find it so fascinating how my entire body can hurt when i have a fever. i forced myself to get out of bed by noon to get dressed and go shopping with my landlady. she took me in her car and was very worried about me all the way there. she gave me plenty of advice of how to throw off a cold and what to eat and not eat and all that. i barely heard her. i was trying to find a way to sit so that my jeans would stop hurting my legs. i needed to buy heavy things like milk and flour or i wouldn't have gone at all. i moved so slowly and i think my face must have shown real disease because gladys followed me around with the cart and helped me out a lot. i was wearing 4 layers including my coat and shivering my butt off in the hyper u. fortunately the whole shopping trip took less than an hour and i was home in warm pjs and socks by 2pm. i spent the rest of the day in and out of sleep, heating up water to drink and gargle with.
thursday: i forced myself to go to work. i was feeling better and so i thought i could make it. i no longer had a fever and only minimal body pain. i also had an easy work day. my morning class were angels. they were so very excited to be speaking english and they all participated and told me what they could and could not do. (all the girls could not play rugby and all the boys could not dance). they were so sweet. i had a 3 hour break before my next class so i came home for a nap and lunch. i woke up to hearing gladys say my name, just outside my door. she didn't knock so when i got up to see what was going on, there was a delivery man and a very large box for me! yay! my mommy sent me clothes and spices! and gladys saw that i was still sick and brought me a chickpea and greens soup. it was simple and very yummy. she is one of those people who can do anything they want with ingredients and have it turn out amazing. like my mommy and ashwitha's mom and very few others.
i had a truly horrible ravioli that i bought in case of emergency. it was what i had the night before in my feverish state. it was a simple canned cheese ravioli in tomato sauce. i was in awe of france and its ability to turn even the simplest food into something disgusting. this stuff would make anthony bourdain happily eat chef boyardee and praise and recommend it for the rest of his life! nfortunately i hae another can in my cupboard and this one is a different flavor- mixed vegetable. i followed it down with a clementine and salt water gargling for my throat.
when i got back to work, i felt a lot better and had 3 more classes. i had a cute group of 11 year olds and made them practice numbers by telling me their phone numbers in english. and then we told time with a wobbly clock i drew on the chalk board. the following two classes were the same class just each half given to me an hour apart. they were 15 year olds and i had prepared a fill in the blanks lyrics worksheet for them to the song just the way you are by bruno mars. i really did not anticipate this, but most of them already knew the song! thankfully nobody knew what the lyrics were so they actually learned something. and since they knew and liked the song, they were all highly interested and curious to learn the meaning of the lyrics. they even sang the song at the end! in one group we were lead by a boisterous funny guy named quentin who sang loudly and badly. and the other was a girly drama queen named marie who sang in a funny falsetto throughout. i told them that singing was a really good way to practice their english and they seemed happy to hear it.
friday: i made myself get up to go to the market to buy cabbage and tomatoes and bananas. there were no bananas to be found so i bought a chocolate croissant and a cookie for breakfast instead. i took a very long nap after gargling 3 times (before and after market and after breakfast) and woke up and gargled again. i am determined to get rid of this sore throat but it is putting up one hell of a fight. i helped gladys with an email issue: attaching a file to an email. and cleaned my kitchen after talking to vee. i then made rasam from a mix and cabbage (cose) curry and rice for dinner. 4 helpings later, i decided to blog. and here i am.
craving: an end to my sore throat and a strawberry and banana smoothie
currently listening to: recado bossa nova- hank mobley
this flu thing i have took me completely by surprise. i can usually tell if i'm going to fall sick and also how bad it will be. this french strain destroyed all that. on monday night i had a glass of wine and snacks with my landlady for around 30 minutes. i came back home and ate, went online and went to bed with a slight sore throat. i woke up in full fledged agony but i was in denial about it. so i went to school and had a miserable day.
tuesday: the kids were loud and plain crazy. they didn't want to learn or listen to me. in one of my classes a girl had the audacity to have headphones in her ears and music playing! i confiscated the phone after much difficulty; she pretended not to understand me even when i spoke in french and then tried to hand me only her headphones without her phone! as if i didn't know that the two went together! the class was so loud and hyper and i had a sore throat and my body ached all over. it was torture.
at the end of the hour, the aforementioned girl walked right up to my desk and picked up her phone and almost made it out of the room before i caught her arm and talked to her. i was really surprised because when i took her phone, i told her i would be handing it over to her teacher and that she would deal with the issue, not me. now if this were me, i would have been embarrassed and scared for the rest of the hour, wondering about my phone and the trouble i was in. not this young lady. she spent the whole hour loudly talking to the boys beside her and not paying even the slightest attention to what i was saying. i was shocked. because of all the kids in the class, she had the most reason to try and suck up to me and she didn't even bother.
so when the class was over, she stood in front of me and begged me to give her a second chance. i returned her phone and headphones not because she was bright red and on the verge of fake tears, but because i absolutely hate it when teachers (at stella) tried to take our phones or belongings and not give them back at the end of the day. it used to infuriate me that the teachers and nuns at stella would confiscate phones and not return them for months! i'm sure it isn't legal. and now in that class, it all came back and i let her have her phone back saying that i would be informing her teacher of what happened.
and i did. i was embarrassed to, and sandrine (the teacher) was even more embarrassed that i had to deal with something like that. things like this really makes me wonder what makes a teacher someone worthy of students' attention and respect. clearly i fall short in some way. i'm not exactly sure what to do about it either. i don't yell in class, i hate yelling. i simply stop talking altogether and observe their various conversations with (what i hope is) a stern look on my face, until of of them realizes and yells for the others to shut up.
yet another observation is how i do not know if they understand or not. the expressions on their faces when they are disinterested are the same as when they do not understand. only when they are engaged and when they understand, do i ever see interest on their faces. and this is rare in some classes.
wednesday: i woke up with a beautiful fever and could barely move. i texted my teacher and apologized about not being able to come in. and went back to sleep. i find it so fascinating how my entire body can hurt when i have a fever. i forced myself to get out of bed by noon to get dressed and go shopping with my landlady. she took me in her car and was very worried about me all the way there. she gave me plenty of advice of how to throw off a cold and what to eat and not eat and all that. i barely heard her. i was trying to find a way to sit so that my jeans would stop hurting my legs. i needed to buy heavy things like milk and flour or i wouldn't have gone at all. i moved so slowly and i think my face must have shown real disease because gladys followed me around with the cart and helped me out a lot. i was wearing 4 layers including my coat and shivering my butt off in the hyper u. fortunately the whole shopping trip took less than an hour and i was home in warm pjs and socks by 2pm. i spent the rest of the day in and out of sleep, heating up water to drink and gargle with.
thursday: i forced myself to go to work. i was feeling better and so i thought i could make it. i no longer had a fever and only minimal body pain. i also had an easy work day. my morning class were angels. they were so very excited to be speaking english and they all participated and told me what they could and could not do. (all the girls could not play rugby and all the boys could not dance). they were so sweet. i had a 3 hour break before my next class so i came home for a nap and lunch. i woke up to hearing gladys say my name, just outside my door. she didn't knock so when i got up to see what was going on, there was a delivery man and a very large box for me! yay! my mommy sent me clothes and spices! and gladys saw that i was still sick and brought me a chickpea and greens soup. it was simple and very yummy. she is one of those people who can do anything they want with ingredients and have it turn out amazing. like my mommy and ashwitha's mom and very few others.
i had a truly horrible ravioli that i bought in case of emergency. it was what i had the night before in my feverish state. it was a simple canned cheese ravioli in tomato sauce. i was in awe of france and its ability to turn even the simplest food into something disgusting. this stuff would make anthony bourdain happily eat chef boyardee and praise and recommend it for the rest of his life! nfortunately i hae another can in my cupboard and this one is a different flavor- mixed vegetable. i followed it down with a clementine and salt water gargling for my throat.
when i got back to work, i felt a lot better and had 3 more classes. i had a cute group of 11 year olds and made them practice numbers by telling me their phone numbers in english. and then we told time with a wobbly clock i drew on the chalk board. the following two classes were the same class just each half given to me an hour apart. they were 15 year olds and i had prepared a fill in the blanks lyrics worksheet for them to the song just the way you are by bruno mars. i really did not anticipate this, but most of them already knew the song! thankfully nobody knew what the lyrics were so they actually learned something. and since they knew and liked the song, they were all highly interested and curious to learn the meaning of the lyrics. they even sang the song at the end! in one group we were lead by a boisterous funny guy named quentin who sang loudly and badly. and the other was a girly drama queen named marie who sang in a funny falsetto throughout. i told them that singing was a really good way to practice their english and they seemed happy to hear it.
friday: i made myself get up to go to the market to buy cabbage and tomatoes and bananas. there were no bananas to be found so i bought a chocolate croissant and a cookie for breakfast instead. i took a very long nap after gargling 3 times (before and after market and after breakfast) and woke up and gargled again. i am determined to get rid of this sore throat but it is putting up one hell of a fight. i helped gladys with an email issue: attaching a file to an email. and cleaned my kitchen after talking to vee. i then made rasam from a mix and cabbage (cose) curry and rice for dinner. 4 helpings later, i decided to blog. and here i am.
craving: an end to my sore throat and a strawberry and banana smoothie
currently listening to: recado bossa nova- hank mobley
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
it's a black fly in your chardonnay
so pere says: "update this you lazy bugger" and i say to pere and anyone else who reads this: comment so i feel motivated to update!!
so i did a stupid thing this morning. i woke up dark and early at 6:30 and got ready, had breakfast, walked to school. then i found out that i have no classes today. i work every other wednesday but with all the strikes and holidays i got confused. brilliant. and so i waited 15 minutes in the teachers lounge until my ears thawed and walked home. i did get to stop at the market on the way and got veggies and i'm making an amazing pasta tonight! but i'm kicking myself for waking up this morning at all.
especially since i was so pooped yesterday evening after work that i was nodding off at 8pm. so i took a nap and woke up at 10 to shower and get prepared for today. sigh.
in other news (cough cough): i desperately want a thick warm, woolen, scarf, beenie, glove set in dark dark chocolate brown. it's all i can think of when i step outside. the wind in this village is vindictive.
tuesday: work was exhausting. i think all the kids were really excited about something happening after school or next year or whatever, but they refused to learn english. all day long they were uninterested, talkative (and that's putting it nicely), and fidgety. i worked with 11-12 year olds all day and the subject of restaurants and the restaurant experience from the point of view of the waiter and the customer. some classes had gone over the vocab and some hadn't. they mostly knew random food vocab and everyone wanted to know what coleslaw was. and what a t-bone steak was. and why a caesar salad was called that. and if cheese cake tastes good because they thought it sounded awful. which you could understand because if you had some french cheese and then thought of making cake with it, it would not sound appetizing. but none of them had a problem with the term 'french fries' and i thought they would surely ask me about that. and these questions were never framed in english. when i asked them to please do so, they looked at me like i was insane. which was pretty funny.
in one class i went over emotions and personalities, focusing on adjectives and adverbs. ex: i am sometimes grumpy but never shy. i went around the room and had everyone tell me what mood they were in at that moment. i had a lot of 'i feel tired' and 'i feel a little shy' and i had three students who were both angry and happy. then we had a discussion about whether a person can feel two conflicting feelings at the same time (in french). most of the class thought so and gave me examples like when you are so happy you cry. and when you are in love but sad. i didn't feel like these were appropriate examples though because the crying is not separate from the happiness and the sadness isn't separate from the being in love. they gave up when i explained that, and decided to yell across the room instead. but it made me wonder.
i thought that they may want to know how to express specific emotions or feelings in english so i asked them to give me emotions in french and i'd give them the english equivalent and we'd make sentences. the words i got however, were: fart, burp, drunk and vagina. this isn't to say that all the students were hooligans, there were a few girls who seemed to want to learn and asked me pertinent questions. god bless them.
this past weekend: i finally got around to heading into beziers. i met up with elaine and we bumped into mariana who is the spanish assistant at my school. the 3 of us walked had a drink, walked around the city, then had another drink. mariana invited elaine and i to a dinner she was having the next evening. she and janet, another spanish assistant were making mexican food for 3 other assistants. so i met 2 other canadians from halifax and an american from spokane. the evening was a lot of fun and much needed. the girls are all very sweet and i'm glad i've finally found people to hang out with down here. dessert was my first ever time eating black forest cake outside of india. and it tasted pretty much the same, though the cherries were a tamer shade of red than at saravanas.
gladys found me a bike! i was up in her kitchen just talking and i mentioned how i was going to ask around at school to see if any of the teachers knew someone who had a bike lying around. and she said that was a good idea and that she would ask her friends for me too. i thanked her and went home. less than 10 minutes later she came down and told me she found me a bike and that we'd go get it the next morning at 8! it's a road bike and it's lovely. and i cannot wait for the weather to improve to take it to the beach.
that is all for now. there is no school tomorrow because it is a bank holiday. and the plan is to head back to montpellier for the weekend.
craving: macaroni grill's mushroom ravioli
currently listening to: aicha- cheb khaled
so i did a stupid thing this morning. i woke up dark and early at 6:30 and got ready, had breakfast, walked to school. then i found out that i have no classes today. i work every other wednesday but with all the strikes and holidays i got confused. brilliant. and so i waited 15 minutes in the teachers lounge until my ears thawed and walked home. i did get to stop at the market on the way and got veggies and i'm making an amazing pasta tonight! but i'm kicking myself for waking up this morning at all.
especially since i was so pooped yesterday evening after work that i was nodding off at 8pm. so i took a nap and woke up at 10 to shower and get prepared for today. sigh.
in other news (cough cough): i desperately want a thick warm, woolen, scarf, beenie, glove set in dark dark chocolate brown. it's all i can think of when i step outside. the wind in this village is vindictive.
tuesday: work was exhausting. i think all the kids were really excited about something happening after school or next year or whatever, but they refused to learn english. all day long they were uninterested, talkative (and that's putting it nicely), and fidgety. i worked with 11-12 year olds all day and the subject of restaurants and the restaurant experience from the point of view of the waiter and the customer. some classes had gone over the vocab and some hadn't. they mostly knew random food vocab and everyone wanted to know what coleslaw was. and what a t-bone steak was. and why a caesar salad was called that. and if cheese cake tastes good because they thought it sounded awful. which you could understand because if you had some french cheese and then thought of making cake with it, it would not sound appetizing. but none of them had a problem with the term 'french fries' and i thought they would surely ask me about that. and these questions were never framed in english. when i asked them to please do so, they looked at me like i was insane. which was pretty funny.
in one class i went over emotions and personalities, focusing on adjectives and adverbs. ex: i am sometimes grumpy but never shy. i went around the room and had everyone tell me what mood they were in at that moment. i had a lot of 'i feel tired' and 'i feel a little shy' and i had three students who were both angry and happy. then we had a discussion about whether a person can feel two conflicting feelings at the same time (in french). most of the class thought so and gave me examples like when you are so happy you cry. and when you are in love but sad. i didn't feel like these were appropriate examples though because the crying is not separate from the happiness and the sadness isn't separate from the being in love. they gave up when i explained that, and decided to yell across the room instead. but it made me wonder.
i thought that they may want to know how to express specific emotions or feelings in english so i asked them to give me emotions in french and i'd give them the english equivalent and we'd make sentences. the words i got however, were: fart, burp, drunk and vagina. this isn't to say that all the students were hooligans, there were a few girls who seemed to want to learn and asked me pertinent questions. god bless them.
this past weekend: i finally got around to heading into beziers. i met up with elaine and we bumped into mariana who is the spanish assistant at my school. the 3 of us walked had a drink, walked around the city, then had another drink. mariana invited elaine and i to a dinner she was having the next evening. she and janet, another spanish assistant were making mexican food for 3 other assistants. so i met 2 other canadians from halifax and an american from spokane. the evening was a lot of fun and much needed. the girls are all very sweet and i'm glad i've finally found people to hang out with down here. dessert was my first ever time eating black forest cake outside of india. and it tasted pretty much the same, though the cherries were a tamer shade of red than at saravanas.
gladys found me a bike! i was up in her kitchen just talking and i mentioned how i was going to ask around at school to see if any of the teachers knew someone who had a bike lying around. and she said that was a good idea and that she would ask her friends for me too. i thanked her and went home. less than 10 minutes later she came down and told me she found me a bike and that we'd go get it the next morning at 8! it's a road bike and it's lovely. and i cannot wait for the weather to improve to take it to the beach.
that is all for now. there is no school tomorrow because it is a bank holiday. and the plan is to head back to montpellier for the weekend.
craving: macaroni grill's mushroom ravioli
currently listening to: aicha- cheb khaled
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
boire de la vodka, aller chez ikea, me lever en retard... je n'ai rien trouver de mieux a faire!
so i have been procrastinating writing this post because i have so much to write. and that is stupid because if i procrastinate something like this, it accumulates. so i will try and be brief and get it over with. but brevity is not my strong point.
so friday: i didn't go on a bike ride to the sea. jules did, but the group didn't have a bike for me so i didn't get to go. instead i took a walk around montpellier and enjoyed the city at my pace. i went into a few small shops and looked around at various snooty merchandise. this being only the second walk i had taken around the city and already i was beginning to recognize where i was and how to get to certain places: that's how small and intricate it is.
when i got home shana was heading to ikea so i joined her because i didn't have anything else to do and i really love going to ikea. she wanted to buy fabric and i didn't even know ikea sold fabric! we took the tram which is like vancouver's skytrain but on the ground and a whole heck of a lot slower. it snakes around the city like a fat lazy worm and is pretty useful for people who don't like to walk. ikea is on the outskirts of the city so it made sense to take it. it's located in a shopping complex called odysseum. this place reminded me of california; it's full of new buildings and lots of cement. there was nothing french or historical about it and it felt like hacienda crossings mixed with westfield, only with multiple outdoor levels. there were of course, young people everywhere buying various overpriced things and i even noticed a caribbean themed restaurant where people were invited to dine pirate-style (why anyone would want to do that is beyond my range of comprehension [as are many things]). i also remarked upon a store called the very dry store!
ikea was the same as it is everywhere only in french. we wandered through and looked at everything which is how i like to do it. shana found what she was looking for and i daydreamed about my future house and its furnishings and colors. we then wandered through zara which contains far more awesome wearable items than in its north american version. one day in the not so distant future... :)
saturday: we decided to go to the zoo in the off chance that once we got there the rain would stop and we could still walk around. the zoo is about 20 minutes north of montpellier and free and since there is absolutely nothing indoors and free in the city, we decided to check out the animals. pouring rain (of course) when we got there so we paid to enter their amazon exhibit. it was surprisingly worth it. i have never been that close to alligators in my life. they were highly entertaining and they stared at us and smiled just about as much as we did them. there was also a very cool bat exhibit that was designed like a cave with lots of black light so we could see the bats flying all around. we even watched a determined constrictor weave its way to the door of its case/hut and inspect it thoroughly as if it knew that it was its only way out. we stayed all afternoon and then returned to the city library. we chilled and read magazines for 2 hours; jules- news and current affairs ones and me- psychology, travel and interior design. then we walked to monique's place for dinner.
monique had invited 3 friends and so jules and i waited for them and chatted. monique gave me a birthday gift of a very cool necklace which is now the only piece of jewelry i have in france. so sweet of her! when the guests arrived we had our aperitif: champagne and snacked on a veggie loaf, aubergine puree and cherry tomatoes. i love how aperitif in france lasts almost an hour. we listened to the adults talk about meeting people in today's world; dating sites, clubbing/ the pub scene and through work or friends. monique and her friends are all retired and jules and i appreciated how bizarre it was to hear people like them (old) discussing things that affect well, us. no, we did not contribute a word to the conversation.
dinner didn't disappoint as far as yet another french person's (mis)interpretation of a vegetarian diet is concerned (surprising to us since monique made very good vegetarian appetizers): boiled, peeled potatoes, boiled peeled carrots, an entire cauliflower boiled in one piece, plain rice and only after we asked, more aubergine puree. paired with a white wine. then followed cheeses- brebis, chevre, gruyere and 2 more that i forgot paired with a lovely bordeaux. apparently if you serve yourself a second helping of cheese, it is an insult to the host since it means you didn't eat well. fortunately this came up before i reached for more. the last course was dessert- a simple fruit crumble with a white muscat, very yummy. and monique packed away all of the leftovers, including the cheese, for us to take home!
sunday: it couldn't have felt less like my birthday when i woke up. it was rainy and gloomy. so i stayed in bed and in pjs reading down under by bill bryson which is hilarious and highly recommended. i breakfasted late and alone with the book and lunched on leftovers from the night before with jules. at around 6pm i was restless so i commandeered their kitchen and made myself a chocolate cake. yes, i did indeed bake my own birthday cake. when i called shana and jules to have some, they brought a candle and sang to me, which was sweet. we ate lots of cake and therefore skipped dinner. then jules decided to take me out to do some celebrating and we headed out to the rock store at 11:30. there were people dressed up for halloween all over the place, mostly zombies and nothing creative. as the night progressed we met a mate from sydney, a wannabe canadian from new york and a motherly london based french teacher.
and now i'm sleepy so i will continue the rest tomorrow. ta!
craving: an orange dream machine jamba juice
currently listening to: a disgruntled refrigerator.
so friday: i didn't go on a bike ride to the sea. jules did, but the group didn't have a bike for me so i didn't get to go. instead i took a walk around montpellier and enjoyed the city at my pace. i went into a few small shops and looked around at various snooty merchandise. this being only the second walk i had taken around the city and already i was beginning to recognize where i was and how to get to certain places: that's how small and intricate it is.
when i got home shana was heading to ikea so i joined her because i didn't have anything else to do and i really love going to ikea. she wanted to buy fabric and i didn't even know ikea sold fabric! we took the tram which is like vancouver's skytrain but on the ground and a whole heck of a lot slower. it snakes around the city like a fat lazy worm and is pretty useful for people who don't like to walk. ikea is on the outskirts of the city so it made sense to take it. it's located in a shopping complex called odysseum. this place reminded me of california; it's full of new buildings and lots of cement. there was nothing french or historical about it and it felt like hacienda crossings mixed with westfield, only with multiple outdoor levels. there were of course, young people everywhere buying various overpriced things and i even noticed a caribbean themed restaurant where people were invited to dine pirate-style (why anyone would want to do that is beyond my range of comprehension [as are many things]). i also remarked upon a store called the very dry store!
ikea was the same as it is everywhere only in french. we wandered through and looked at everything which is how i like to do it. shana found what she was looking for and i daydreamed about my future house and its furnishings and colors. we then wandered through zara which contains far more awesome wearable items than in its north american version. one day in the not so distant future... :)
saturday: we decided to go to the zoo in the off chance that once we got there the rain would stop and we could still walk around. the zoo is about 20 minutes north of montpellier and free and since there is absolutely nothing indoors and free in the city, we decided to check out the animals. pouring rain (of course) when we got there so we paid to enter their amazon exhibit. it was surprisingly worth it. i have never been that close to alligators in my life. they were highly entertaining and they stared at us and smiled just about as much as we did them. there was also a very cool bat exhibit that was designed like a cave with lots of black light so we could see the bats flying all around. we even watched a determined constrictor weave its way to the door of its case/hut and inspect it thoroughly as if it knew that it was its only way out. we stayed all afternoon and then returned to the city library. we chilled and read magazines for 2 hours; jules- news and current affairs ones and me- psychology, travel and interior design. then we walked to monique's place for dinner.
monique had invited 3 friends and so jules and i waited for them and chatted. monique gave me a birthday gift of a very cool necklace which is now the only piece of jewelry i have in france. so sweet of her! when the guests arrived we had our aperitif: champagne and snacked on a veggie loaf, aubergine puree and cherry tomatoes. i love how aperitif in france lasts almost an hour. we listened to the adults talk about meeting people in today's world; dating sites, clubbing/ the pub scene and through work or friends. monique and her friends are all retired and jules and i appreciated how bizarre it was to hear people like them (old) discussing things that affect well, us. no, we did not contribute a word to the conversation.
dinner didn't disappoint as far as yet another french person's (mis)interpretation of a vegetarian diet is concerned (surprising to us since monique made very good vegetarian appetizers): boiled, peeled potatoes, boiled peeled carrots, an entire cauliflower boiled in one piece, plain rice and only after we asked, more aubergine puree. paired with a white wine. then followed cheeses- brebis, chevre, gruyere and 2 more that i forgot paired with a lovely bordeaux. apparently if you serve yourself a second helping of cheese, it is an insult to the host since it means you didn't eat well. fortunately this came up before i reached for more. the last course was dessert- a simple fruit crumble with a white muscat, very yummy. and monique packed away all of the leftovers, including the cheese, for us to take home!
sunday: it couldn't have felt less like my birthday when i woke up. it was rainy and gloomy. so i stayed in bed and in pjs reading down under by bill bryson which is hilarious and highly recommended. i breakfasted late and alone with the book and lunched on leftovers from the night before with jules. at around 6pm i was restless so i commandeered their kitchen and made myself a chocolate cake. yes, i did indeed bake my own birthday cake. when i called shana and jules to have some, they brought a candle and sang to me, which was sweet. we ate lots of cake and therefore skipped dinner. then jules decided to take me out to do some celebrating and we headed out to the rock store at 11:30. there were people dressed up for halloween all over the place, mostly zombies and nothing creative. as the night progressed we met a mate from sydney, a wannabe canadian from new york and a motherly london based french teacher.
and now i'm sleepy so i will continue the rest tomorrow. ta!
craving: an orange dream machine jamba juice
currently listening to: a disgruntled refrigerator.
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